Multimedia product placement marketplace

ABSTRACT

A multimedia product placement marketplace is provided. A media player presents primary media content received over a first channel. A media component presents auxiliary media content received over a second channel, and selects a portion of an auxiliary media content related to the primary media content, which may have been presented by the media player during a previous time period. If the selected portion of the auxiliary media content is associated with at least one item of information, the media component receives the information over a second channel, and displays the received information via a user interface on the handset. The received information includes a link to a commerce server that provides a commercially available product and/or a commercially available service related to the selected portion of the auxiliary media content to enable a transaction. The link may be based on a highest value bid within a period of time.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

None.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

Not applicable.

REFERENCE TO A MICROFICHE APPENDIX

Not applicable.

BACKGROUND

Advertising may be an integral part of multimedia content from radio andtelevision broadcasts to motion pictures. Advertising may be implementedin many forms with multimedia content, including a single sponsor payingfor large blocks of advertising time before and after multimediapresentations and multiple sponsors purchasing short advertisement timesthroughout a multimedia presentation. Another less invasive method ofadvertising is through product placement. Product placement is the useof real commercial products by characters featured in multimediacontent. For example, an actor may prominently use a commerciallyavailable cell phone during a television program. The use of productplacement in multimedia content is presented in such a way as to evoke aresponse from a potential customer that may be associated with theproduct in order to encourage the purchase of the product.

SUMMARY

In some embodiments, a system is provided for a multimedia productplacement marketplace. The system includes a processor on a handset, amemory on the handset, and a media component stored in the memory. Whenexecuted by the processor, the media component selects a portion of anauxiliary media content related to a primary media content received by amedia player over a first channel and determines whether the selectedportion of the auxiliary media content is associated with at least oneitem of information. If the selected portion of the auxiliary mediacontent is associated with the information, the media component receivesthe information over a second channel and displays the receivedinformation via a user interface on the handset. The receivedinformation includes a link to a commerce server that provides acommercially available product and/or a commercially available servicerelated to the selected portion of the auxiliary media content to enablea transaction.

In some embodiments, a computer implemented method is provided for amultimedia product placement marketplace. A media player presentsprimary media content received over a first channel. A media componentpresents auxiliary media content received over a second channel. Themedia component selects a portion of the auxiliary media content relatedto the primary media content presented by the media player during aprevious time period and determines whether the selected portion of theauxiliary media content is associated with at least one item ofinformation. If the selected portion of the auxiliary media content isassociated with the information, the media component receives theinformation over the second channel and displays the receivedinformation via a user interface on the handset. The receivedinformation includes a link to a commerce server that provides acommercially available product and/or a commercially available servicerelated to the selected portion of the auxiliary media content to enablea transaction.

In some embodiments, a system is provided for a multimedia productplacement marketplace. The system includes a bid component in a firstmemory and a media component in a second memory. When executed by afirst processor, the bid component receives a bid to associate a contentlink to an item in a media content and associates the item with the linkif the bid is a highest value within a period of time. When executed bya second processor, the media component selects a portion of anauxiliary media content related to a primary media content received by amedia player over a first channel, receives the content link over asecond channel if the selected portion of the auxiliary media contentincludes the item, and displays the received content link via a userinterface on the handset. The received content link includes a link to acommerce server that provides a commercially available product and/or acommercially available service related to the selected portion of theauxiliary media content to enable a transaction.

These and other features will be more clearly understood from thefollowing detailed description taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings and claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a more complete understanding of the present disclosure, referenceis now made to the following brief description, taken in connection withthe accompanying drawings and detailed description, wherein likereference numerals represent like parts.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system for a multimedia product placementmarketplace according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a method for a multimedia product placementmarketplace according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 shows an illustrative wireless communications system according tosome embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an illustrative handset according to someembodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an illustrative software configuration fora handset according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 6 shows an illustrative computer system suitable for implementingportions of the several embodiments of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

It should be understood at the outset that although illustrativeimplementations of one or more embodiments are illustrated below, thedisclosed systems and methods may be implemented using any number oftechniques, whether currently known or in existence. The disclosureshould in no way be limited to the illustrative implementations,drawings, and techniques illustrated below, but may be modified withinthe scope of the appended claims along with their full scope ofequivalents.

Advertisements are typically static presentations of commercials orproduct placements with little or no way for a potential customer tointeract with a product or service and act on the emotional or otherappeal associated with the presentation of the product or service.Potential customers may be more receptive to multimedia content based oncommercially available products or services of interest to the customerwhen information related to the products or services is delivered at thecustomer's convenience and does not interfere with the primaryprogramming. A metatag may be inserted into multimedia content toprovide options when the customer responds to obtain more informationabout a product or service in the multimedia content. The insertion of ametatag may be used as a substitute for or an addition to commercials orother advertisements in the multimedia content.

Systems and methods of the pending disclosure provide a multimediaproduct placement marketplace. A media player presents primary mediacontent received over a first channel, and a media component presentsrelated auxiliary media content received over a second channel. In somecontexts the media component may be referred to as a commerce component,because in some embodiments this component may promote ease of marketingand sales completion in association with presentation of media content.In other embodiments, however, the role of the media component may notbe limited to promoting commerce, and hence the broader term “mediacomponent” may be more commonly used herein. For example, a televisionplays an action movie received over a cable transmission while a mobilephone either simultaneously or subsequently plays the same action moviereceived over a mobile phone broadcast. The mobile phone may track theplaying of the primary media content and may present an input forselecting a portion of the auxiliary media content related to theprimary media content, which may have been presented by the media playerduring a previous time period. For example, a potential customer usesthe mobile phone to select an image of a car driven by a popular actorduring a car chase scene in the action movie, either while thetelevision is playing the car chase scene or after the television playedthe car chase scene. The media component determines whether the selectedportion of the auxiliary media content is associated with information.For example, the mobile phone determines whether the image of theselected car is associated with a metatag. If the selected portion ofthe auxiliary media content is associated with information, the mediacomponent receives the information over a second channel, and displaysthe received information via a user interface on the handset. Forexample, if the image of the car is associated with a metatag, themobile phone displays information provided by the metatag on the mobilephone's user interface. The received information includes a hyperlink toa commerce server that provides a commercially available product and/ora commercially available service related to the selected portion of theauxiliary media content to enable a transaction. For example, the userinterface displays a hyperlink to a web page for a local car dealer thatenables the customer to make an appointment to test drive the model ofthe car featured in the car chase scene.

The hyperlink may be based on a highest value bid within a period oftime. A bid component may receive a bid for an item in media content tobe associated with a hyperlink from a bidder, determine whether the bidis a highest value within a period of time, and associate the item withthe hyperlink in response to a determination that the bid is a highestvalue within the period of time. For example, the bid component receivesbids from multiple local car dealers that sell the model of the carfeatured in the car chase scene, determines which local car dealersubmitted the highest bid for the current week, and associates thewinning dealer's hyperlink with the car in the car chase scene. Ratherthan responding to the selection of the image of the car by displayinghyperlinks for all of the local dealers, the mobile phone displays onlythe hyperlink for the local dealer that won the bidding process.

Advertisers may request or order placement of metatags associated withtheir products and services in multimedia content. The metatags may beaccessed without interrupting the presentation of the multimedia contentto access information about the products and services, for exampleadvertisements about the products and services. In an embodiment, theoriginal producers of the multimedia content may insert, install, and/orassociate the metatags with the subject products and/or services in themultimedia content, for example a metatag associated with a sports carin an action movie. Potential customers may receive transactioninformation for customer-selected products and services associated withpresented multimedia content without interfering with the presentationof the multimedia content, such as allowing other family members tocontinue watching the action movie unobstructed on the television.Commercial entities may outbid competitors to have their own hyperlinkassociated with products and services placed in multimedia content.Therefore, embodiments of the present disclosure provide benefits toadvertisers, potential customers who are presented with multimediacontent, and providers of commercial products and services.

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of a system 100 for a multimedia productplacement marketplace according to some embodiments of the presentdisclosure. The system 100 includes a handset 102, a media player 104, abase transceiver station (BTS) 106, a network 108, a communicationserver 110, a commerce server 112, a media provider 114 and a broadcasttower 116.

The handset 102 may be a mobile phone, a wireless communication device,a pager, a personal digital assistant, a portable computer, a tabletcomputer, a laptop computer, a digital camera, a digital music player, adigital calculator, an electronic key fob for keyless entry, a secondmedia player, or an inventory control device.

The media player 104 may be a television, a set top box, a gamingconsole, a satellite radio device, a motion picture theater, a desktopcomputer, a personal computer, a laptop computer, a tablet computer, aportable telecommunications device, a cellular telephone, a digitaltelephone, and/or a personal digital assistant (PDA). The media player104 may receive and display media content from the media provider 114via a fixed link, such as coaxial cable or optical fiber, or a longrange wireless link, such as a satellite link or a worldwideinteroperability for microwave access (WiMAX) link. The media provider114 may also transmit the media content over a broadcast television linkto the media player 104. If the media player 104 is a radio, metatagsmay be sent to the handset 102 that is in communication with the radio104 and configured to receive and utilize the metatags included in aradio broadcast. In some examples, the handset 102 may be referred to asthe mobile phone 102 and the media player 104 may be referred to as thetelevision 104.

The handset 102 may communicate with the servers 110-112 via the basetransceiver station 106 and the network 108. The media provider 114 andthe broadcast tower 116 may be an advanced television systems committee(ATSC) server 114 and an ATSC tower 116. The handset 102 and the mediaplayer 104 may both receive a media stream from the media server 114 viathe broadcast tower 116. The media provider 114 may be any device,component, or source, such as a broadcast transmitter, a cable head-end,a telecommunications central office, or any other informationdistribution hub in a private or public network, such as the Internet,that may transport media content downstream to the media player 104and/or the handset 102. Media content may include television programs,commercials, movies, streaming video content, streaming audio content,gaming content, still photos, or a combination of these as well as othermedia content. The media provider 114 may be used by a television cablenetwork, a television broadcast network, a television satellite network,or a video distribution center for cable broadcast in a video over adigital subscriber line (DSL) network, wherein media content may includestreamed video over DSL. The media player 104 may provide personal areanetworks such as radio frequency identification (RFID) or near fieldcommunication (NFC) for interacting with metadata informationdistributed in a radio broadcast using the handset 102 in communicationwith the radio 104. One skilled in the art will recognize that any otherform of multimedia content may be used in accordance with theembodiments described herein.

In some embodiments, the handset 102 may include a user interface 118, ahandset media player 120, a radio frequency (RF) transceiver 124, and amedia component 126. The handset media player 120 renders and presentsaudio and video media streams via the user interface 118. The RFtransceiver 124 provides frequency shifting, converting received radiofrequency signals to baseband and converting baseband transmit signalsto radio frequency signals to enable the handset 102 to communicate viaa wireless communication technology. The RF transceiver 124 may supportsome of the interactive aspects of the present disclosure includingreceiving and decoding media streams. Some of the interaction may takeplace using the internet protocol (IP). Some of the interactive aspectsof the communication described herein may take place via the basetransceiver station (BTS) 106 and the network 108. Examples of wirelesscommunication technologies include a code division multiple access(CDMA) technology, an integrated digital enhanced network (IDEN)communication technology, a global system for mobile communication (GSM)technology, a universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS)technology, a long-term evolution (LTE) technology, a worldwideinteroperability for microwave access (WiMAX) technology, and any otherair interface protocol technology.

In some embodiments, the commerce server 112 may include a bid component128. FIG. 1 depicts the system components 102-128 for the purpose of anexample, as the system 100 may include any number and type of the systemcomponents 102-128. Some details and/or components of the system 100 arenot shown or described so as to not crowd FIG. 1 with details.

The media player 104 presents primary media content received over afirst channel, and the media component 126 presents related auxiliarymedia content received over a second channel. For example, thetelevision 104 plays an action movie received over a cable transmission,while the mobile phone 102 simultaneously plays the same action moviereceived over a mobile phone broadcast. The media player 104 may receivethe primary media content from the media provider 114 over the firstchannel using a long range fixed connection. The media component 126 mayreceive the related auxiliary media content from the media provider 114over the second channel using a long range wireless connection. Forexample, the related auxiliary media may be forwarded from the mediaprovider 114 to the handset 102 over a wireless network by a mobileservice provider in communication with the media provider 114 and thehandset 102. The handset 102 may communicate with the media player 104via a short range wireless link, such as a Bluetooth link, a wirelessfidelity (WiFi) link, a near field communication (NFC) link, an infrareddata association (IrDa) link, a radio frequency identification (RFID)link, a universal serial bus (USB) or other link.

The media component 126 may synchronize presentation of the relatedauxiliary media content with presentation of the primary media contentreceived by the media player 104. The synchronization may be based onuser input entered via the user interface 118. For example, the user ofthe handset 102 may enter the name and start time of a televisionbroadcast program to enable the synchronization.

The media provider 114 that transmits the primary media content to themedia player 104 may also transmit a metatag inserted into the relatedauxiliary media content to associate a selected portion of the relatedauxiliary media content with information. A content creator may insertthe metatag into the related auxiliary media content before the mediaprovider 114 transmits the related auxiliary media content. A server mayinsert metatags into the related auxiliary media content in accordancewith any standard appropriate for multimedia content, such as theadvanced television enhancement forum (ATVEF) standard, the H.264 videocodec standard or any other video, image, or audio codec standard. Themetatags may be inserted in the auxiliary media content frame by frameduring an encoding process. An embedded metatag may include a hyperlinkfor a URL address for a website which includes information about somecommercial product, commercial service, brand name, or program relatedcontent. For example, while playing a movie, the television 104 equippedwith Bluetooth technology may send the movie with a metatag for ahyperlink over a Bluetooth link to the mobile phone 102. The hyperlinkmay be to a webpage that includes purchasing information for musicrelated to the movie, or soundtrack, and other purchasing informationassociated with products or services placed in the movie. The metataginserted in the related auxiliary media content does not have to beassociated with a specific hyperlink at the time of insertion, as theassociation between inserted metatags and any hyperlinks may be addedafterwards, such as after a vendor wins a bidding process to have onlythe vendor's hyperlink associated with the metatag.

The related auxiliary media content may include an indication ofresponse ranges that indicate a period of time during which a potentialcustomer may have a response to specific portions of the relatedauxiliary media content. For example, the indication of response rangesmay include periods of time that are sentimental during a family scene,suspenseful during a courtroom scene, or action packed during a carchase scene. The periods of time may be indicated in any manner, such asthrough an indication of a start time and a duration, a start time andan end time, a range of frame numbers, or any other indication of aperiod of time in the related auxiliary media content that would berecognized by one skilled in the art. The start and end times describedabove may be time stamps relative to the start of the related auxiliarymedia content, the end of the related auxiliary media content, orrelative to any other intermediate position of the related auxiliarymedia content, such as relative to a chapter within the relatedauxiliary media content. While described above as response ranges, theperiods of time indicated may include any time in which any commerciallyavailable product or service or other item of interest is featured inthe auxiliary media content. The other item of interest may include anyof an actor, a location, landmarks, or any other item that may be ofinterest that is featured in the related auxiliary media content. Therelated auxiliary media content may be substantially similar to theprimary media content. Auxiliary media content contains metatags thatdescribe embedded hyperlinks or other pointers to sources of informationabout products or other items displayed in both the primary andauxiliary media content. The metatags define the hyperlinks that, whenchosen by a customer viewing the auxiliary media content on the handset102, provides the linkage to the commerce server 112 that contains thedesired information about the displayed products associated with thehyperlinks.

The response range may also include multiple products and services thatare featured during the response range. In the car chase scene exampleused above, the products may include the car used in the car chasescene, the tires on the car, the apparel worn by the driver of the car,and any other products that may be associated with the emotional appealprovided by the car chase scene. The products and services may be usedby the media provider 114 and a user of the handset 102 as described inmore detail below.

For broadcast distribution, the same media content is distributed tomultiple media players 104 in a particular area or region. Forinteractive distribution, a customer may initiate distribution upon themedia provider 114 receiving requests for specific media content fromthe media player 104. In this case, the primary media content may bedistributed to the requesting media player 104 for immediate play back,distributed and stored on the media player 104 for subsequent play back,or scheduled for distribution at a later time, for example. When theprimary media content is stored on the media player 104 for subsequentplayback, any metatags associated with the related auxiliary mediacontent may be distributed along with the primary media content andstored on the media player 104 for use when the primary media content isplayed back. The primary media content alone may be stored on the mediaplayer 104, and upon initiating playback or during the playback, thehandset 102 may request the related auxiliary media content and currentmetatags from the media provider 114. The media content may also bedistributed on a physical medium such as a digital video disc (DVD),compact disc (CD), or any other physical medium. The metatags may berecorded on the physical medium along with response ranges and the mediacontent. A media provider may dynamically insert the metatags based ontheir positions previously defined and may dynamically insert themetatags into the auxiliary media content upon request. The metatags maybe inserted at any point in the media content, preferably placed in themedia content at a point that evokes an emotional or other response.Upon the playback of the related auxiliary media content reaching thepoint where the metatags have been inserted, selecting a portion of therelated auxiliary media content may result in displaying informationassociated with the metatags if the selected portion of the relatedauxiliary media content includes a metatag. For example, if the user ofthe handset 102 selects a portion of the car chase scene that includesthe image of the car, and a metatag is inserted in the auxiliary mediacontent for the image of the car, the user interface 118 displays thehyperlink associated with the image of the car by the metatag.

The media provider 114 may send the related auxiliary media content thatincludes metatags to the handset 102 using a long range wirelessconnection. For instance, the media player 104 may notify the mediaprovider 114 of the communication with the handset 102. In turn, themedia provider 114 may deliver the related auxiliary media content withthe metatags directly to the handset 102 over the second channel via thelong range wireless connection. Alternatively, the media provider 114may send the related auxiliary media content that includes metatagsusing the long range wireless connection to a mobile service providerwhich may then forward the related auxiliary media content that includesthe metatags to the handset 102. For instance, the service provider maysend the related auxiliary media content with metatags over a cellularlink to a cellular network service provider, which may forward therelated auxiliary media content with metatags to the handset 102 overthe network. Upon receiving the related auxiliary media content and themetatags, the handset 102 may be used to play the related auxiliarymedia content. For example, the mobile phone 102 may be used to play themovie that is being played on the television 104 in the room, where themovie received by the handset 102 includes metatags associated withhyperlinks.

Unlike the first communication channel that may be used primarily as aprimary media content downstream channel, the second communicationchannel may be used for providing or down-streaming the relatedauxiliary media content to the handset 102 and for receiving orup-streaming any customer feedback from the handset 102 to the mediaplayer 104 directly or to the media provider 114 that may becommunicating with the media player 104. For example, while a potentialcustomer's family enjoys watching the action movie featuring the carchase scene on the television 104, the potential customer selects theimage of the car in the car chase scene displayed by the handset 102,without the selection interfering with the family's enjoyment of themovie, for example without pausing or delaying presentation of thecontent.

A customer action may be any action taken by the customer while theprimary media content is being displayed using the media player 104. Forexample, the customer action may include turning a particular programon, switching to a particular channel, or pausing or replaying a programusing a digital video recorder (DVR) system. Monitoring such customeractions, or the customer's pattern of actions, taken while viewing theprimary media content may provide a means for the media provider 114 tosend the auxiliary media content related to primary media content to thehandset 102. Customer feedback may be a selection of a portion of therelated auxiliary media content, a selection of a hyperlink, or anycommunication from the customer that may be related to any mediacontent.

Although one handset 102 is shown in FIG. 1, it should be understoodthat multiple handsets 102 may be present at the same location andreceive the same related auxiliary media content. For example, eachmember of a family watching the action movie on the television 104 mayuse their own handset 102 to watch the same movie and select differentproducts and services for potential transactions. When multiple handsets102 are present within the proximity of a short range wireless link, themedia provider 114 and/or commerce server 112 may communicate viaseparate secondary channels with each handset 102. The media provider114 may then send to each handset 102 the same related auxiliary mediacontent as described above, each handset 102 may receive the samerelated auxiliary media content via a long range wireless connection. Inan embodiment, the presentation of media on the handset 102 iscoordinated with the presentation of media on the television 104 orother media player by the media provider 114, and thus the mediaprovider 114 is able to send the correct auxiliary content to thehandset 102.

The hyperlinks may be stored in a memory of the handset 102 until therelated auxiliary media content may be accessed at a later time.Information may be requested using the hyperlinks that are stored in thememory of the handset 102.

The media component 126 selects a portion of the auxiliary media contentrelated to the primary media content, which may have been presented bythe media player 104 during a previous time period. For example, apotential customer uses the mobile phone 102 to select the image of thecar during the car chase scene in the action movie, either while thetelevision 104 is playing the car chase scene or after the television104 has completed playing the car chase scene. The handset 102 mayselect a portion of the auxiliary media content by using the navigationor selection capabilities of the user interface 118 to select a digitalimage in the related auxiliary media content, to capture the digitalimage, to draw a circle around the digital image, or to use some othertypes of selection techniques known to those skilled in the art. When aportion of the auxiliary media content is selected via the userinterface 118, the media component 126 may identify the selected digitalimage. For example, if the user interface 118 selects a digital image ofthe car in the car chase scene near the digital image of one of thecar's tires, the media component 126 may send a message via the userinterface 118 to inquire whether the user intended to select the car orthe car's tires. The media component 126 may seek such a selectionclarification even if only one portion of the auxiliary media content isassociated with a metatag. For example, even if the car is tagged andthe tires are not tagged, the media component 126 may send the selectionclarification message just in case the user is interested in the tiresand not the car.

The viewer may also select an option to make selections that may accessthe metatags at a later time. In this case, at a time desired by theviewer, the metatags may be accessed by manipulating the handset 102.Some featured products may include the tires of the car, the car itself,and the paint job on the car. Other products unrelated to a scene in thevideo playback may also be featured, such as the doors on the buildingbehind the car. A user may navigate between each of the featuredproducts using the handset 102 to select one of the featured productsand services.

The media component 126 determines whether the selected portion of theauxiliary media content is associated with information. For example, themobile phone 102 determines whether the image of the car in the selectedportion of the related auxiliary media content is associated with ametatag. The media component 126 may request the information associatedwith the selected portion of the related auxiliary media content inresponse to a determination that the selected portion of the relatedauxiliary media content is not associated with the information, receivethe information over a second channel in response to requesting theinformation, and display the information via the user interface 118. Ifthe potential customer selected a portion of the related auxiliary mediacontent that did not include an item associated with a metatag, themedia component 126 may attempt to determine which item is selected fromthe auxiliary media content. For example, if the user of the handset 102selects an image of a door in the background of the car chase scene, themedia component 126 determines that no metatags are associated with theimage of the door, and sends a request for information to the mediaprovider 114. The media provider 114, or some other entity, mayperiodically examine a list of items that are not associated withmetatags but for which information is requested, and may identify atleast some of the items and the items' corresponding transactioninformation. The media provider 114, or some other entity, maysubsequently send the transaction information to the requesting mediacomponent 126 and/or insert metatags for the identified items in therelated auxiliary media content for subsequent presentation. Forexample, the producers of the action movie identify the door in thebackground of the car chase scene, identify a hyperlink to a website topurchase the type of door, and provide the hyperlink to the requestingmobile phone 102. The media provider 114 may also accumulate data aboutnon-present requested metatags and do analysis on these requests and usesuch requests to conduct marketing. The communication server 110 mayalso collect statistics about the requested metatags from the mediacomponent 126 and use these statistics to negotiate bid prices. Forexample, the bid component 128 on the communication server 110 may usethe number of requests for the image in the car as both a statistic toprompt car dealers to bid on associating their hyperlinks with themetatag for the car and as a basis for a minimum bid to have a hyperlinkassociated with the metatag for the car. A metatag in some cases may beassociated with multiple stock-keeping units (SKU) or other designationof the same type of products from the same manufacturer or merchant ordifferent products from different manufacturers or merchants. Thecommerce server 112 may blend the information associated with a metatagbased on the profiles and preferences of subscribers using the handset102.

The handset 102 may replay the auxiliary media content based on userinput entered via the user interface 118, which enables the user toselect portions of the auxiliary media content after the related primarymedia content is no longer presented by the media player 104. Forexample, after the television 104 finishes playing the car chase scene,the potential customer uses the user interface 118 to rewind and replaythe car chase scene on the mobile phone 102

The handset 102 may replay the auxiliary media content based on theauxiliary media content associated with an item identified within theportion of the auxiliary media content. For example, if the userselected a portion of the auxiliary media content that includes theimage of the car, the user has the option of requesting the mobile phone102 to replay every scene that featured the image of the car, which maybe enabled by accessing the metatags associated in each scene with theimage of the car.

While replaying the auxiliary media content, the handset 102 may presentmultiple metatags and their corresponding hyperlinks associated with theauxiliary media content. For example, if the user selects the portion ofthe auxiliary media content that includes the image of the car, the userinterface 118 may present the metatags and their correspondinghyperlinks for the car, for the tires on the car, and for the custompaint job on the car. Selection of any of the hyperlinks may enablecommunication with a commerce server 112 that provides at least one of acommercially available product and a commercially available servicerelated to a selected one of the multiple metatags to enable atransaction. For example, the user of the mobile phone 102 may conducttransactions associated with vendors that provide the car, the tires, orthe custom paint job.

Several products and/or services may be featured during a response rangewith a hyperlink list associated with the corresponding metatags. Thehyperlink list may be displayed in response to a user selecting aportion of the auxiliary media content that includes a metatag. Thehyperlink list may include a product name and optionally provide a briefdescription of each product or service in the hyperlink list. It iscontemplated that the hyperlink list may be grouped into categoriesbased on the types of products and service featured, such as a categoryfor apparel. From the hyperlink list a user may select one of theproducts or services featured in the current response range of the mediacontent. In response to the selection of a product or service, the userinterface 118 may display the options for further selection by the user.This information may be provided similar to that of a browser where theuser may select the content from an active web site. The hyperlink listmay be displayed whenever the auxiliary media playback is reversed.

If the selected portion of the auxiliary media content is associatedwith information, the media component 126 receives the information overa second channel, and displays the received information via the userinterface 118. For example, if the image of the car is associated with ametatag, the mobile phone 102 displays information provided by themetatag on the user interface 118. In addition to the hyperlinkassociated with the metatag, the information may also include additionalinformation that the user may use to determine whether or not to selectthe hyperlink, such as the description of the item identified in thedigital image, the approximate cost of the item, the availability of theitem, and further information about the item.

The requested information may be sent from the media provider 114 over along range wireless connection. The information may be associated withthe primary media content being presented at the moment a customerfeedback is detected. The requested information may be sent in the formof a text message, for instance in the form of a short message service(SMS) message, and/or a multimedia messaging service (MMS) message.

The received information includes a hyperlink to the commerce server 112that provides a commercially available product and/or a commerciallyavailable service related to the selected portion of the auxiliary mediacontent to enable a transaction. For example, the user interface 118displays a hyperlink to a web page for a local car dealer that enablesthe customer to make an appointment to test drive the model of the carfeatured in the car chase scene.

The options provided by the at least one hyperlink displayed by the userinterface 118 may provide the customer multiple choices. One option maybe to view a brochure about the car, another option may be to schedule atest drive of the car, and yet another option may be to request quotesfrom the three dealers nearest to the location of the handset 102. Otheroptions may include a uniform resource locator (URL) hyperlink to awebsite for the car manufacturer, the phone number of a dealer, or anoption to view a commercial about the car, for example. Othertransaction options may include purchasing merchandizing related to thecar, such as a hat with a decal of the car or car manufacturer logo onit, for example. One skilled in the art will recognize that the optionsmay be readily modified according to the product, service, or other itemof interest they are describing. When voice over Internet protocol(VoIP) is employed, the user may select to speak directly with acustomer service representative to, for example, schedule the testdrive. Where the user selects to commence or complete a transaction, themedia component 126 may promote one-click purchasing since much of thenecessary information, such as customer name, address, credit cardinformation, may already be available and may be automaticallypopulated.

Metatags may contain links that are routed to different content atdifferent times and in different regions. For example, the linkcontained in a metatag associated with the image of the car may route toa first web site of a local car dealer during the first six months afterthe release of a DVD of the action movie and route to a second web siteof a different local car dealer during the next six months after therelease of the DVD of the action movie. Likewise, the link contained inthe metatag associated with the image of the car may route to the firstweb site of a San Francisco car dealer in a region proximate to SanFrancisco while the link may route to a third web site of a Boston cardealer in a region proximate to Boston.

The hyperlink displayed by the user interface 118 may be based on ageographic location associated with the handset 102 because a product orservice may not be offered in a region corresponding with the locationof the handset 102. In this case, some of the options for a transactionwith the product or service may not be displayed by the user interface118. Other options for requesting more information or requesting for theproduct or service to be offered in the region may still be available.The location of the handset 102 may be determined from a variety ofsources. For example, if the media player 104 is a stationary device,such as a television, then the location of the handset 102 may bedetermined based on a billing address or a home address stored in acustomer database. If the media player 104 is a mobile device, then thelocation of the handset 102 may be determined through executing alocation fix technology, such as advanced forward link trilateration,global positioning system, a cell sector location fix technology, and ahybrid location fix technology or any other similar technology to locateon the handset 102. Any other techniques known to those skilled in theart for determining a location of the handset 102 may also be used.

The location information may be used to determine the association ofhyperlinks with the metatags inserted into the auxiliary media contentand used by the handset 102. For example, a handset 102 at a firstlocation may request a test drive, wherein a test drive request form maybe communicated to the closest car dealership from the location of thehandset 102 for scheduling a test drive. Another handset 102 at a secondlocation may view and manipulate all of the same information, but havethe test drive request form communicated to a different dealership thatis closest to the location of the other handset 102. Additionally, theuser interface 118 may present multiple hyperlinks associated withdifferent car dealerships for the user to choose the most convenient orpreferred car dealership for taking a test drive.

The hyperlink may also be based on a highest value bid from anadvertiser or merchant within a period of time. The bid component 128may receive a bid for an item in media content to be associated with ahyperlink from a bidder, determine whether the bid is a highest valuewithin a period of time, and associate the item with the hyperlink inresponse to a determination that the bid is a highest value within theperiod of time. For example, the bid component 128 receives bids frommultiple local car dealers that sell the model of the car featured inthe car chase scene, determines which car dealer submitted the highestbid for the current week, and associates the winning dealer's hyperlinkwith the image of the car in the car chase scene. Rather than respondingto the selection of the image of the car by displaying hyperlinks forall of the local dealers, the mobile phone 102 displays only thehyperlink for the local dealer that won the bidding process. Metatagsembedded into auxiliary media content could be subject to refreshedbidding over a period of time as customers' tastes change. After a movieis released, on a weekly, monthly, or annual basis, metatags could beplaced for bidding by advertisers and new hyperlinks could be associatedwith the metatags for newly popular products. A lead actor, for example,in a movie or other production may increase or decrease in popularity.Cult phenomena and unexpected demographic changes may cause unexpectedchanges in popularity of products that might be displayed in mediacontent. By permitting images associated with metatags to beperiodically bid by advertisers, marketers of movies and other mediacontent may have the opportunity to capture additional value.

Advertisers may request or order placement of metatags associated withtheir products and services in multimedia content. The metatags may beaccessed without interrupting the presentation of the multimedia contentto access information about the products and services, for exampleadvertisements about the products and services. In an embodiment, theoriginal producers of the multimedia content may insert, install, and/orassociate the metatags with the subject products and/or services in themultimedia content, for example a metatag associated with a sports carin an action movie. Potential customers may receive transactioninformation for customer-selected products and services associated withpresented multimedia content without interfering with the presentationof the multimedia content, such as allowing other family members tocontinue watching the action movie unobstructed on the television.Commercial entities may outbid competitors to have their own hyperlinkassociated with products and services placed in multimedia content.Therefore, embodiments of the present disclosure provide benefits toadvertisers, potential customers who are presented with multimediacontent, and providers of commercial products and services.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a method 200 for a multimedia product placementmarketplace according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. Thesystem 100 may execute the method 200 to provide a marketplace forproducts and services placed in media content.

In box 202, primary media content received over a first channel ispresented. For example, the television 104 presents an action moviereceived over a first channel.

In box 204, auxiliary media content received over a second channel ispresented. For example, the mobile phone 102 presents the same actionmovie received over a second channel.

In box 206, a portion of the auxiliary media content related to aprimary media content presented by a media player during a previous timeperiod is selected. For example, the user of the mobile phone 102replays the car chase scene to select the image of the car after thetelevision finished playing the car chase scene.

In box 208, a determination is made whether a selected portion ofauxiliary media content is associated with information. For example, themedia component 126 determines whether the selected image of the car inthe car chase scene is associated with a metatag. If the selectedportion of the auxiliary media content is not associated withinformation, the method 200 terminates. Alternatively, in someembodiments, data about the requested information may be collected,stored, analyzed, and/or acted upon before the method 200 terminates. Ifthe selected portion of the auxiliary media content is associated withinformation, the method 200 continues to box 210.

In box 210, information is received over a second channel. For example,the media component 126 receives hyperlinks for local car dealers thatsell the model of car. While the term hyperlink may be associated withaccessing a site available on the world wide web of the Internet, theterm herein is more broadly defined to indicate a linkage or access to aremote information source found in a plurality of locations ofinformation.

In box 212, received information is displayed via a user interface on ahandset, wherein the received information includes a hyperlink to acommerce server that provides a commercially available product and/or acommercially available service related to a selected portion ofauxiliary media content to enable a transaction. For example, the mediacomponent 126 displays the hyperlinks to the local car dealers via theuser interface 118 to enable a transaction.

FIG. 3 shows a wireless communications system 300 including the mobiledevice 302. In some embodiments, the handset 102 may be implemented asthe handset 302. FIG. 3 depicts the handset 302, which is operable forimplementing aspects of the present disclosure, but the presentdisclosure should not be limited to these implementations. Thoughillustrated as a mobile phone, the handset 302 may take various formsincluding a wireless handset, a pager, a personal digital assistant(PDA), a gaming device, an inventory control device, a media player, adigital camera, a digital calculator, a portable computer, a tabletcomputer, a laptop computer, and/or other. Many suitable handsetscombine some or all of these functions. In some embodiments of thepresent disclosure, the handset 302 is not a general purpose computingdevice like a portable, laptop or tablet computer, but rather is aspecial-purpose communications device such as a mobile phone, wirelesshandset, pager, or PDA. The handset 302 may support specializedactivities such as gaming, inventory control, job control, and/or taskmanagement functions, and so on.

The handset 302 includes a display 304 and a touch-sensitive surfaceand/or keys 306 for input by a user. The handset 302 may present optionsfor the user to select, controls for the user to actuate, and/or cursorsor other indicators for the user to direct. The handset 302 may furtheraccept data entry from the user, including numbers to dial or variousparameter values for configuring the operation of the handset. Thehandset 302 may further execute one or more software or firmwareapplications in response to user commands. These applications mayconfigure the handset 302 to perform various customized functions inresponse to user interaction. Additionally, the handset 302 may beprogrammed and/or configured over-the-air, for example from a wirelessbase station, a wireless access point, or a peer handset 302.

The handset 302 may execute a web browser application which enables thedisplay 304 to show a web page. The web page may be obtained viawireless communications with a base transceiver station (BTS) 308, awireless network access node, a peer handset 302 or any other wirelesscommunication network or system. While a single base transceiver station308 is illustrated, it is understood that the wireless communicationsystem may comprise additional base transceiver stations. In someinstances, the handset 302 may be in communication with multiple basetransceiver stations 308 at the same time. The base transceiver station308 (or wireless network access node) is coupled to a wired network 310,such as the Internet. Via the wireless link and the wired network, thehandset 302 has access to information on various servers, such as aserver 312. The server 312 may provide content that may be shown on thedisplay 304. Alternately, the handset 302 may access the basetransceiver station 308 through a peer handset 302 acting as anintermediary, in a relay type or hop type of connection.

FIG. 4 shows a block diagram of the handset 302. While a variety ofknown components of handsets 302 are depicted, in an embodiment a subsetof the listed components and/or additional components not listed may beincluded in the handset 302. The handset 302 includes a digital signalprocessor (DSP) 402 and a memory 404. As shown, the handset 302 mayfurther include an antenna and front end unit 406, a radio frequency(RF) transceiver 408, an analog baseband processing unit 410, amicrophone 412, an earpiece speaker 414, a headset port 416, aninput/output interface 418, a removable memory card 420, a universalserial bus (USB) port 422, an infrared port 424, a vibrator 426, akeypad 428, a touch screen liquid crystal display (LCD) with a touchsensitive surface 430, a touch screen/LCD controller 432, acharge-coupled device (CCD) camera 434, a camera controller 436, and aglobal positioning system (GPS) sensor 438. In an embodiment, thehandset 302 may include another kind of display that does not provide atouch sensitive screen. In an embodiment, the DSP 402 may communicatedirectly with the memory 404 without passing through the input/outputinterface 418.

The DSP 402 or some other form of controller or central processing unitoperates to control the various components of the handset 302 inaccordance with embedded software or firmware stored in memory 404 orstored in memory contained within the DSP 402 itself. In addition to theembedded software or firmware, the DSP 402 may execute otherapplications stored in the memory 404 or made available via informationcarrier media such as portable data storage media like the removablememory card 420 or via wired or wireless network communications. Theapplication software may comprise a compiled set of machine-readableinstructions that configure the DSP 402 to provide the desiredfunctionality, or the application software may be high-level softwareinstructions to be processed by an interpreter or compiler to indirectlyconfigure the DSP 402.

The antenna and front end unit 406 may be provided to convert betweenwireless signals and electrical signals, enabling the handset 302 tosend and receive information from a radio access network (RAN) or someother available wireless communications network or from a peer handset302. In an embodiment, the antenna and front end unit 406 may includemultiple antennas to support beam forming and/or multiple input multipleoutput (MIMO) operations. As is known to those skilled in the art, MIMOoperations may provide spatial diversity which can be used to overcomedifficult channel conditions and/or increase channel throughput. Theantenna and front end unit 406 may include antenna tuning and/orimpedance matching components, RF power amplifiers, and/or low noiseamplifiers.

The RF transceiver 408 provides frequency shifting, converting receivedRF signals to baseband and converting baseband transmit signals to RF.In some descriptions a radio transceiver or RF transceiver may beunderstood to include other signal processing functionality such asmodulation/demodulation, coding/decoding, interleaving/deinterleaving,spreading/despreading, inverse fast Fourier transforming (IFFT)/fastFourier transforming (FFT), cyclic prefix appending/removal, and othersignal processing functions. For the purposes of clarity, thedescription here separates the description of this signal processingfrom the RF and/or radio stage and conceptually allocates that signalprocessing to the analog baseband processing unit 410 and/or the DSP 402or other central processing unit. In some embodiments, the RFtransceiver 408, portions of the antenna and front end 406, and theanalog baseband processing unit 410 may be combined in one or moreprocessing units and/or application specific integrated circuits(ASICs).

The analog baseband processing unit 410 may provide various analogprocessing of inputs and outputs, for example analog processing ofinputs from the microphone 412 and the headset port 416 and outputs tothe earpiece speaker 414 and the headset port 416. To that end, theanalog baseband processing unit 410 may have ports for connecting to thebuilt-in microphone 412 and the earpiece speaker 414 that enable thehandset 302 to be used as a mobile phone. The analog baseband processingunit 410 may further include a port for connecting to a headset or otherhands-free microphone and speaker configuration. The analog basebandprocessing unit 410 may provide digital-to-analog conversion in onesignal direction and analog-to-digital conversion in the opposing signaldirection. In some embodiments, at least some of the functionality ofthe analog baseband processing unit 410 may be provided by digitalprocessing components, for example by the DSP 402 or by other centralprocessing units.

The DSP 402 may perform modulation/demodulation, coding/decoding,interleaving/deinterleaving, spreading/despreading, inverse fast Fouriertransforming (IFFT)/fast Fourier transforming (FFT), cyclic prefixappending/removal, and other signal processing functions associated withwireless communications. In an embodiment, for example in a codedivision multiple access (CDMA) technology application, for atransmitter function the DSP 402 may perform modulation, coding,interleaving, and spreading, and for a receiver function the DSP 402 mayperform despreading, deinterleaving, decoding, and demodulation. Inanother embodiment, for example in an orthogonal frequency divisionmultiplex access (OFDMA) technology application, for the transmitterfunction the DSP 402 may perform modulation, coding, interleaving,inverse fast Fourier transforming, and cyclic prefix appending, and fora receiver function the DSP 402 may perform cyclic prefix removal, fastFourier transforming, deinterleaving, decoding, and demodulation. Inother wireless technology applications, yet other signal processingfunctions and combinations of signal processing functions may beperformed by the DSP 402.

The DSP 402 may communicate with a wireless network via the analogbaseband processing unit 410. In some embodiments, the communication mayprovide Internet connectivity, enabling a user to gain access to contenton the Internet and to send and receive e-mail or text messages. Theinput/output interface 418 interconnects the DSP 402 and variousmemories and interfaces. The memory 404 and the removable memory card420 may provide software and data to configure the operation of the DSP402. Among the interfaces may be the USB port 422 and the infrared port424. The USB port 422 may enable the handset 302 to function as aperipheral device to exchange information with a personal computer orother computer system. The infrared port 424 and other optional portssuch as a Bluetooth interface or an IEEE 802.11 compliant wirelessinterface may enable the handset 302 to communicate wirelessly withother nearby handsets and/or wireless base stations.

The input/output interface 418 may further connect the DSP 402 to thevibrator 426 that, when triggered, causes the handset 302 to vibrate.The vibrator 426 may serve as a mechanism for silently alerting the userto any of various events such as an incoming call, a new text message,and an appointment reminder.

The keypad 428 couples to the DSP 402 via the interface 418 to provideone mechanism for the user to make selections, enter information, andotherwise provide input to the handset 302. Another input mechanism maybe the touch screen LCD 430, which may also display text and/or graphicsto the user. The touch screen LCD controller 432 couples the DSP 402 tothe touch screen LCD 430.

The CCD camera 434 enables the handset 302 to take digital pictures. TheDSP 402 communicates with the CCD camera 434 via the camera controller436. The GPS sensor 438 is coupled to the DSP 402 to decode globalpositioning system signals, thereby enabling the handset 302 todetermine its position. In another embodiment, a camera operatingaccording to a technology other than charge coupled device cameras maybe employed. Various other peripherals may also be included to provideadditional functions, e.g., radio and television reception.

FIG. 5 illustrates a software environment 502 that may be implemented bythe DSP 402. The DSP 402 executes operating system drivers 504 thatprovide a platform from which the rest of the software operates. Theoperating system drivers 504 provide drivers for the handset hardwarewith standardized interfaces that are accessible to applicationsoftware. The operating system drivers 504 include applicationmanagement services (“AMS”) 506 that transfer control betweenapplications running on the handset 302. Also shown in FIG. 5 are a webbrowser application 508, a media player application 510, JAVA applets512, and the media component 126. The web browser application 508configures the handset 302 to operate as a web browser, allowing a userto enter information into forms and select links to retrieve and viewweb pages. The media player application 510 configures the handset 302to retrieve and play audio or audiovisual media. The JAVA applets 512configure the handset 302 to provide games, utilities, and otherfunctionality.

FIG. 6 illustrates a computer system 680 suitable for implementing oneor more embodiments disclosed herein. The computer system 680 includes aprocessor 682 (which may be referred to as a central processor unit orCPU) that is in communication with memory devices including secondarystorage 684, read only memory (ROM) 686, random access memory (RAM) 688,input/output (I/O) devices 690, and network connectivity devices 692.The processor 682 may be implemented as one or more CPU chips.

It is understood that by programming and/or loading executableinstructions onto the computer system 680, at least one of the CPU 682,the RAM 688, and the ROM 686 are changed, transforming the computersystem 680 in part into a particular machine or apparatus having thenovel functionality taught by the present disclosure. It is fundamentalto the electrical engineering and software engineering arts thatfunctionality that can be implemented by loading executable softwareinto a computer can be converted to a hardware implementation by wellknown design rules. Decisions between implementing a concept in softwareversus hardware typically hinge on considerations of stability of thedesign and numbers of units to be produced rather than any issuesinvolved in translating from the software domain to the hardware domain.Generally, a design that is still subject to frequent change may bepreferred to be implemented in software, because re-spinning a hardwareimplementation is more expensive than re-spinning a software design.Generally, a design that is stable that will be produced in large volumemay be preferred to be implemented in hardware, for example in anapplication specific integrated circuit (ASIC), because for largeproduction runs the hardware implementation may be less expensive thanthe software implementation. Often a design may be developed and testedin a software form and later transformed, by well known design rules, toan equivalent hardware implementation in an application specificintegrated circuit that hardwires the instructions of the software. Inthe same manner as a machine controlled by a new ASIC is a particularmachine or apparatus, likewise a computer that has been programmedand/or loaded with executable instructions may be viewed as a particularmachine or apparatus.

The secondary storage 684 is typically comprised of one or more diskdrives or tape drives and is used for non-volatile storage of data andas an over-flow data storage device if RAM 688 is not large enough tohold all working data. Secondary storage 684 may be used to storeprograms which are loaded into RAM 688 when such programs are selectedfor execution. The ROM 686 is used to store instructions and perhapsdata which are read during program execution. ROM 686 is a non-volatilememory device which typically has a small memory capacity relative tothe larger memory capacity of secondary storage 684. The RAM 688 is usedto store volatile data and perhaps to store instructions. Access to bothROM 686 and RAM 688 is typically faster than to secondary storage 684.

I/O devices 690 may include printers, video monitors, liquid crystaldisplays (LCDs), touch screen displays, keyboards, keypads, switches,dials, mice, track balls, voice recognizers, card readers, paper tapereaders, or other well-known input devices.

The network connectivity devices 692 may take the form of modems, modembanks, Ethernet cards, universal serial bus (USB) interface cards,serial interfaces, token ring cards, fiber distributed data interface(FDDI) cards, wireless local area network (WLAN) cards, radiotransceiver cards such as code division multiple access (CDMA), globalsystem for mobile communications (GSM), long-term evolution (LTE),worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX), and/or otherair interface protocol radio transceiver cards, and other well-knownnetwork devices. These network connectivity devices 692 may enable theprocessor 682 to communicate with an Internet or one or more intranets.With such a network connection, it is contemplated that the processor682 might receive information from the network, or might outputinformation to the network in the course of performing theabove-described method steps. Such information, which is oftenrepresented as a sequence of instructions to be executed using processor682, may be received from and outputted to the network, for example, inthe form of a computer data signal embodied in a carrier wave.

Such information, which may include data or instructions to be executedusing processor 682 for example, may be received from and outputted tothe network, for example, in the form of a computer data baseband signalor signal embodied in a carrier wave. The baseband signal or signalembodied in the carrier wave generated by the network connectivitydevices 692 may propagate in or on the surface of electrical conductors,in coaxial cables, in waveguides, in an optical conduit, for example anoptical fiber, or in the air or free space. The information contained inthe baseband signal or signal embedded in the carrier wave may beordered according to different sequences, as may be desirable for eitherprocessing or generating the information or transmitting or receivingthe information. The baseband signal or signal embedded in the carrierwave, or other types of signals currently used or hereafter developed,may be generated according to several methods well known to one skilledin the art.

The processor 682 executes instructions, codes, computer programs,scripts which it accesses from hard disk, floppy disk, optical disk(these various disk based systems may all be considered secondarystorage 684), ROM 686, RAM 688, or the network connectivity devices 692.While only one processor 682 is shown, multiple processors may bepresent. Thus, while instructions may be discussed as executed by aprocessor, the instructions may be executed simultaneously, serially, orotherwise executed by one or multiple processors.

In an embodiment, the computer system 680 may comprise two or morecomputers in communication with each other that collaborate to perform atask. For example, but not by way of limitation, an application may bepartitioned in such a way as to permit concurrent and/or parallelprocessing of the instructions of the application. Alternatively, thedata processed by the application may be partitioned in such a way as topermit concurrent and/or parallel processing of different portions of adata set by the two or more computers. In an embodiment, virtualizationsoftware may be employed by the computer system 680 to provide thefunctionality of a number of servers that is not directly bound to thenumber of computers in the computer system 680. For example,virtualization software may provide 20 virtual servers on 4 physicalcomputers. In an embodiment, the functionality disclosed above may beprovided by executing the application and/or applications in a cloudcomputing environment. Cloud computing may comprise providing computingservices via a network connection using dynamically scalable computingresources. Cloud computing may be supported, at least in part, byvirtualization software. A cloud computing environment may beestablished by an enterprise and/or may be hired on an as-needed basisfrom a third party provider. Some cloud computing environments maycomprise cloud computing resources owned and operated by the enterpriseas well as cloud computing resources hired and/or leased from a thirdparty provider.

In an embodiment, some or all of the functionality disclosed above maybe provided as a computer program product. The computer program productmay comprise one or more computer readable storage medium havingcomputer usable program code embodied therein implementing thefunctionality disclosed above. The computer program product may comprisedata, data structures, files, executable instructions, and otherinformation. The computer program product may be embodied in removablecomputer storage media and/or non-removable computer storage media. Theremovable computer readable storage medium may comprise, withoutlimitation, a paper tape, a magnetic tape, magnetic disk, an opticaldisk, a solid state memory chip, for example analog magnetic tape,compact disk read only memory (CD-ROM) disks, floppy disks, jump drives,digital cards, multimedia cards, and others. The computer programproduct may be suitable for loading, by the computer system 680, atleast portions of the contents of the computer program product to thesecondary storage 684, to the ROM 686, to the RAM 688, and/or to othernon-volatile memory and volatile memory of the computer system 680. Theprocessor 682 may process the executable instructions and/or data inpart by directly accessing the computer program product, for example byreading from a CD-ROM disk inserted into a disk drive peripheral of thecomputer system 680. The computer program product may compriseinstructions that promote the loading and/or copying of data, datastructures, files, and/or executable instructions to the secondarystorage 684, to the ROM 686, to the RAM 688, and/or to othernon-volatile memory and volatile memory of the computer system 680.

While several embodiments have been provided in the present disclosure,it should be understood that the disclosed systems and methods may beembodied in many other specific forms without departing from the spiritor scope of the present disclosure. The present examples are to beconsidered as illustrative and not restrictive, and the intention is notto be limited to the details given herein. For example, the variouselements or components may be combined or integrated in another systemor certain features may be omitted or not implemented.

Also, techniques, systems, subsystems, and methods described andillustrated in the various embodiments as discrete or separate may becombined or integrated with other systems, modules, techniques, ormethods without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.Other items shown or discussed as directly coupled or communicating witheach other may be indirectly coupled or communicating through someinterface, device, or intermediate component, whether electrically,mechanically, or otherwise. Other examples of changes, substitutions,and alterations are ascertainable by one skilled in the art and could bemade without departing from the spirit and scope disclosed herein.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer implemented method for providinginformation to a handset based on primary media content displayed on aseparate media player, comprising: presenting, by the separate mediaplayer, primary media content received from a media provider over afirst channel; presenting, by a media component stored in anon-transitory memory of the handset and executed by a processor of thehandset, auxiliary media content received from the media provider over asecond channel, wherein the auxiliary media content is related to theprimary media content and comprises at least some of the primary mediacontent presented by the separate media player during a time period, andwherein the separate media player and the handset are different types ofdevices; receiving, by the media component, a selected portion of theauxiliary media content, wherein the selected portion of the auxiliarymedia content is a portion of the at least some of the primary mediacontent presented by the separate media player during the time period;determining, by the media component, whether the selected portion of theauxiliary media content is associated with a metatag of the auxiliarymedia content; responsive to a determination that the selected portionof the auxiliary media content is associated with the metatag of theauxiliary media content: receiving, by the media component, at least oneitem of information associated with the metatag of the auxiliary mediacontent, responsive to a determination that the selected portion of theauxiliary media content is not associated with the metatag of theauxiliary media content: requesting, by the media component from acommerce server, at least one item of information associated with theselected portion of the auxiliary media content, and receiving, by themedia component, the at least one item of information associated withthe selected portion of the auxiliary media content in response torequesting the at least one item of information; and displaying thereceived at least one item of information via a user interface of thehandset, wherein the received at least one item of information comprisesa link that provides access to at least one of a commercially availableproduct and a commercially available service related to the selectedportion of the auxiliary media content.
 2. The computer implementedmethod of claim 1, wherein receiving the selected portion of theauxiliary media content is based on user input entered via the userinterface.
 3. The computer implemented method of claim 2, whereinpresenting the auxiliary media content comprises replaying at least aportion of the primary media content on the handset.
 4. The computerimplemented method of claim 2, wherein displaying the received at leastone item of information via the user interface of the handset is basedon reference to at least one of a plurality of metatags associated withthe auxiliary media content.
 5. The computer implemented method of claim4, wherein displaying the received at least one item of informationcomprises displaying a second link via the user interface on thehandset, wherein the second link comprises another link that providesaccess to at least one of another commercially available product andanother commercially available service related to one of the pluralityof metatags.
 6. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein theseparate media player comprises one of a television, a set top box, agaming console, a satellite radio device, a motion picture theatercomponent, a desktop computer, a personal computer, a laptop computer, atablet computer, a portable telecommunications device, a cellulartelephone, a digital telephone, and a personal digital assistant, andwherein the handset comprises one of a mobile phone, a wirelesscommunication device, a pager, a personal digital assistant, a portablecomputer, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a digital camera, adigital music player, a digital calculator, an electronic key fob forkeyless entry, a second media player, and an inventory control device.7. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the mediacomponent receives the auxiliary media content from the separate mediaplayer over the second channel using a short range wireless connection.8. The computer implemented method of claim 7, wherein the short rangewireless connection uses at least one of a Bluetooth technology, a nearfield communication (NFC) technology, a wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi)technology, an infrared technology, and a radio frequency identification(RFID) technology.
 9. The computer implemented method of claim 1,further comprising: responsive to the determination that the selectedportion of the auxiliary media content is not associated with themetatag of the auxiliary content, requesting, by the media component,insertion of at least one metatag into the auxiliary media content toassociate the selected portion of the auxiliary media content with theat least one item of information.
 10. The computer implemented method ofclaim 9, wherein the separate media player receives the primary mediacontent from the media provider over the first channel using a longrange fixed connection.
 11. The computer implemented method of claim 9,wherein the media component receives the auxiliary media content fromthe media provider using a long range wireless connection.
 12. Thecomputer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the handset wirelesslycommunicates via one of a code division multiple access (CDMA)technology, a global system for mobile communication (GSM) technology, auniversal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) technology, along-term evolution (LTE) technology, and a worldwide interoperabilityfor microwave access (WiMAX) technology.
 13. The computer implementedmethod of claim 1, wherein the link is based on the highest value bidfrom at least one of an advertiser and a merchant within a period oftime.
 14. The computer implemented method of claim 1, furthercomprising: receiving, by a bid component, a bid to associate the linkto an item in the auxiliary media content; determining, by the bidcomponent, whether the bid is a highest value within a period of time;and associating, by the bid component, the item in the auxiliary mediacontent to the link in response to a determination that the bid is ahighest value bid within the period of time, wherein determining whetherthe selected portion of the auxiliary media content is associated withthe metatag comprises determining whether the selected portion of theauxiliary media content comprises the item.
 15. The computer implementedmethod of claim 1, wherein the auxiliary media content comprises adigital image, and wherein the selected portion of the auxiliary mediacontent is the digital image.
 16. The computer implemented method ofclaim 14, wherein the bid is based on a geographic location associatedwith the handset executing a location fix technology.
 17. The computerimplemented method of claim 16, wherein the location fix technologycomprises one of advanced forward link trilateration, global positioningsystem, a cell sector location fix technology, and a hybrid location fixtechnology.
 18. The computer implemented method of claim 1, furthercomprising responsive to the determination that the selected portion ofthe auxiliary media content is not associated with the metatag:receiving, by the media component, a new metatag associated with theselected portion of the auxiliary media content; and inserting the newmetatag into the auxiliary media content at least at a time period ofthe auxiliary media content corresponding to the selected portion. 19.The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the selected portionof the auxiliary media content is associated with an item identifiedwithin the auxiliary media content, and wherein displaying the receivedat least one item of information is based on the item identified withinthe auxiliary media content.
 20. The computer implemented method ofclaim 1, further comprising responsive to the determination that theselected portion of the auxiliary media content is not associated withthe metatag: receiving, by the media component, a transmission of theauxiliary media content with a new metatag associated with the selectedportion of the auxiliary media content.